Our journey together began in the digital world as most of the single world was forced to do after Covid, Danielle and I met on a dating site. At the time, I hadn’t dated in over a year, and internet dating was not something that struck me as “romantic”. I honestly didn’t believe I would find anyone that would be worthy of being “the one”. But I felt something was pushing me to give it a try. Literally the day after creating my dating profile, I came across Danielle's profile. I read her entire profile at least 3 times before messaging her. Danielle later told me that the reason her profile described her so perfectly and was so well put together was because her friend, Erica, a University English Professor had written Danielle's dating profile for her. I knew a gem like Danielle was going to have a lot of suitors in her inbox so I paid extra money to make sure my message to her was at the top of her inbox list for 7 days. Turns out I was correct because she later told me that she hadn't logged into her profile for months and that day she logged in, her inbox said she had "10,000+ unread messages." Reading that impossible number of unread messages gave her anxiety so she immediately logged out of the dating site without having opened a single message. Moments after logging out she said my picture at the top of her inbox caught her eye which then led her to log back in and read my message. Thankfully she logged in during those 7 days I paid extra for otherwise we may not have ever met. A couple days later we went on our first date to Hello Sushi in Redlands. The date went so well that I was flabbergasted! On the other hand, Danielle recalls this date differently. She says she cringes when she remembers how she felt about herself on our first date because she says she looked like a complete train wreck. She got off of work really late that evening and she barely had time to shower before we were to meet up. So she arrived to Hello Sushi with her hair still damp and no makeup. She agrees that she thought the date went well too besides her never forgetting that she felt like she looked like a drowned rat. However she states that when I asked her on another date, she thought that if I liked her at her "worst" then I'd love her at her best! On my way home that night, I remember praying to God that she must be the one! Well, what do you know, I was right because 3 years and 60 days after our first date, we will officially be husband and wife. We complete each other, just like Danielle's students would call us, the CardioPulmonary Power Couple.

Little did we know that a simple message would lead to a beautiful connection that has changed our lives forever, it was all God's perfect timing.. From our first conversation to countless shared adventures, we've been building a love story that's uniquely ours. Or in Danielle's words, it only took me FOREVER to find her. Most of you reading this know that Danielle and I met in a time in our lives when heartache and pain almost got the best of us with the loss of her cousin, Adrian and uncle, Jose and the loss of my closest brother, Danny. But with faith and obedience in the Lord, He blessed us and showed us that love will always prevail!